day, fully
equipped and laden with stores, could pass through it. The works,
however, were carried out on more moderate proportions. There are
twenty-eight locks, each one hundred and seventy feet long and forty
feet wide, with an average lift of eight feet. Some of the lock gates
are of timber, and others are of cast-iron, sheathed with pine planking.
The summit level is in Loch Oich, into which pour a number of streams,
supplying an abundance of water for both sides. It stands exactly one
hundred feet above high-water mark at Inverness. The extreme length
from sea to sea is sixty and a half miles; and so direct is the
continuity of the lakes that a line drawn across from point to point
would only exceed the distance by rather more than three miles. There
are twenty-two miles of canal cutting, and thirty-eight and a half miles
of lake water is made available for the canal.

We found passing through the lakes the pleasantest part of the voyage.
We might have been many days doing the distance, had we not had a
favourable breeze. The wind changed directly after we reached
Inverness, of which we were very glad, as it gave us some hopes of soon
meeting the Dolphin, which we feared must have been detained off John o'
Groat's House.

We made several trips down to Fort George, to look out for the Dolphin.
At length one evening, having stood further down the Firth and looking
into Cromarty, made classic by having been the scene of many of Hugh
Miller's rambles, we caught sight of a small white sail, shining
brightly in the rays of the setting sun. Papa, taking the glass, looked
steadily at her, and then, to our great satisfaction, declared his
belief that she was the Dolphin. We immediately tacked towards her, and
in a short time heard Uncle Tom's cheerful hail across the water. We
immediately hove-to, and the Dolphin doing the same, papa and I pulled
on board her. They were in good spirits, although they had begun to
think that they should never get round Duncansby Head, which is close to
John o' Groat's House, until the wind drawing once more from the
westward, they had reached Wick, the great resort of fishing vessels.
After this they had a dead beat until they sighted Tarbet-ness
Lighthouse, on the northern side of the Moray Firth. Their further
adventures they kept for another day.

"I am glad to get back again to you," exclaimed Dick; "it's dull work
sailing all alone. I confess that I sometimes thought yo